To Lead Your Team, You Must First Lead Yourself

I am currently working with a client who is exceptionally passionate about sales and his people – he can literally talk for hours about sales and shares a philosophy with me that sales is the ultimate form of service. He loves his people and would do anything for them to ensure that they are supported and working in a successful environment. However, despite his passion, he shared with me recently that he feels as though he is struggling within himself – he can feel self doubt creeping in, as well as a drop in confidence. He even shared with me that he is now wondering whether he is worthy of leading the team forward – is he the right man for the job?

Self doubt and a lack of confidence can have a significantly adverse effect on the team, even if members of the team are optimistic and upbeat, because, ultimately, the team is a reflection of the leader. If the leader is suffering from a lack of confidence, it won’t take long for this lack of confidence to play out in the team. As we discussed his feelings, we explored a number of key principles around leadership, dominated by the principle that to effectively lead his team, he must first be able to lead himself. Here are 7 key principles we discussed in detail to help him better lead himself :

1. Take 100% Responsibility – whether you are a leader or not, things are always going to happen, and often they are going to be beyond your control. However, if you are able to take 100% responsibility for what happens, particularly, as a Leader, then you wrestle back your personal power and have control over how you can respond to what happens. This principle alone can significantly increase your confidence, knowing that you are in full control of your response. It also sets a strong and empowering example for your team.
2. The growth of your team will be limited by your growth – in his book ‘The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership”, John Maxwell refers to The Law of The Lid, which articulates that leadership ability is the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness. If a leader’s ability rates an 8 out of 10, then their effectiveness can never be greater than a 7. And so it is with growth – if you do not make your personal & professional growth a priority, then neither will your people. Identify what you need to work on, to learn, and to develop. Focus on your growth, make it a priority, and then watch the growth of your people.
3. You must set the pace – whilst you may have some fast people within your team, overall, your team can only travel as quickly as you do. Hence, it is critical that you set high quality standards for yourself and maintain discipline to those standards, and operate with a definitive sense of urgency. Set an exceptional standard of excellence for yourself, be uncompromising in your focus on that standard, and you will show your team the way, leading by example.
4. Understand that words are cheap – linked closely to the above principle, know that your people will be watching your every move, making note of everything you do & everything that you don’t do. Therefore, when you tell yourself you need to get something done, back it up with definitive action, immediately. This will start to form an action habit, and once the habit is formed, you can then say ‘follow me’ and your team will surely follow.
5. Ensure that you are always ‘on’ – as a leader, you cannot simply ‘switch on’ the leadership light, and expect magic to happen. You must always be on and ready to take action, to show the way, setting the example. That is not to say that you cannot relax at times and let your hair down – you just need to ensure that, at all times, you are measuring yourself against your high quality standards you set, because you never know when your leadership will be required.
6. Be prepared to do what is unpopular – as a leader, you know that there will be times when you will be required to make tough decisions, which will often be unpopular. To build this decision making muscle, be prepared to make tough decisions for yourself, on yourself.
7. Understand & acknowledge that you are worthy – linked very closely to principle 2 above, the worth the team places on you will be limited to the worth you place on yourself. Therefore, acknowledge that you are worthy of leadership, that you have earned the role and the responsibility, and that you are more than capable of leading yourself, and therefore, your team.

Leading a team is a privilege and comes with great responsibility and you can only lead your team effectively if you are able to lead yourself effectively. In discussing in detail with my client these 7 principles, whilst it is very early days, he has fully embraced these principles and is beginning to notice a definitive difference in the way he is feeling about his leadership, as well as noticing that his team are responding to him more positively. He knows that it is work in progress, and he is committed to driving towards a successful outcome. I trust that this helps you as well.

To your leadership success!!

Darren

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Darren is an Executive Coach, Leadership Consultant, Trainer, Facilitator, Speaker.  He is an experienced and committed coach with a background of sales leadership success in large organisations. He applies a genuine focus to coaching and developing high performing sales leaders who are looking to unleash the potential of themselves and their teams.